Cloud Distinctions and Grid Computing

The process of evolution of the media and various technologies are clearly reflected in the lives of individuals and businesses in general. With the evolution of internet, companies are using various possibilities to leave their increasingly competitive products or services on the market. Among the various known and advantages that businesses can use the Internet, are the concept of cloud computing and grid computing. The following addresses the concept of grid computing and cloud computing, as well as their differences.

What is grid computing?

Nowadays the processing capacity is limited, both in our personal computers or servers in several companies. Now imagine having the arrangement further processing rate so that the server processing is at the peak demand, i.e. without the need to know all the computing apparatus that exists through this processing. This concept of processing is called Grid computing.

Grid computing aims to combine processing power of thousands or even millions of small computers connected in local networks or long distance networks to be able to process large tasks on a given server. The grid computing applications run on a virtual server, which has integration with other resources that are able to share resources quickly and are easily managed.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing aims to provide all the computing resources as a service over the internet. An example is that in the early nineteenth century, during the industrial revolution, the industries had to produce their own electricity or mechanical. Nowadays industries consume energy as a service, paying only for what they use. Cloud computing has a similar proposal, where computing resources will be the responsibility of specialized companies, which will manage the resources and market them as a service over the internet.

Cloud computing can be described as a huge environment of virtual or physical servers, reaching a concept of computing resources that include processing power, storage, connectivity, platforms, applications and services available on the Internet.

Conceptual differences between Grid and Cloud Computing

There is always a confusion between the concept of cloud computing and grid computing, as both share the same cost reduction objectives, increase flexibility and accessibility features.

The concept of grid computing basically offer processing power through some mechanism, since cloud computing is to provide every cell of computational resources on demand, over the internet and consuming as a service. Despite the similarities, the paradigms work with different concepts that can work together or work in isolation.

A cloud computing model is the SaaS (Software as a Service). In this model, software solutions are offered over the internet, that is, the company does not need license purchases to have a solution, but only needs to hire a service from a provider that offers office applications. An example is an office application solution that is free, like Google Docs.

The two concepts discussed in this article have similar goals, but work in different ways and for different purposes.